Professor Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya

Professor Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya appointed as a Visiting Research Fellow of NCAS from 11 June 2024. She  is conducting a study on the lacemaking industry in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Shihan is researching product variation, marketing strategies and exposure to global markets to ascertain how the craft can be safeguarded  and  how the income of culture bearers can be enhanced.

Qualifications

● PhD – University of Westminster, UK, 2004.
Dissertation: Indo-Portuguese of Ceylon: History, Linguistics and Literature.
Supervisor: Professor Philip Baker
Examiners: Professor David Brookshaw and Dr Patricia Odber Baubeta

● MSc – Finance, University of London, UK, 1995.
Dissertation: Corporate Governance and the Takeover Market.
Supervisor: Professor Norvald Smith.

● BSc – Economics (Honours Second Class Upper Division) University of London, UK, 1993.
Dissertation: Central Banks and Monetary Policy. Supervisor: Professor Vittorio Grilli.

● Diploma – Linguistics, University of Westminster, UK, 1998.

● Diploma – Piano Performance, London College of Music. University of West London, 2015

Awards

● International Institute of Macau Award for trilingual (English, Portuguese, Sinhala) translation of book on Luso-Asians of Sri Lanka, 2021.
● Cassal Trust Award Fund: to Organise a tribute conference for the distinguished Creole Linguist late Professor Philip Baker, 2021.
● Coffin Fund Award: to convene a symposium on Transoceanic Lusitanian Linguistics and Cultures, 2021.
● University of Hawaii Distinguished: Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series award from the Center for South Asian Studies & Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity Award, University of Hawaii, USA, March 2020.
● Institute of Commonwealth Studies Award for film Screening on global slavery ‘Les routes de L’esclavage’ 2018.
● Coffin Fund Award: to convene the annual Symposium on Global Portuguese at the University of London (2017 and 2018).
● British Library (London) Award: to conduct fieldwork on Afro-Sri Lankan Music, 2013.
● University of Graz (Austria) Award: as an international collaborator on the Hugo Schuchardt Archives Project to work on the manuscript collection, 2012.
● British Library (London) Award: for fieldwork on Baila and Kaffrinha in Sri Lanka, 2008.
● Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Award: for field work on language, music and dance of the Creole communities in Sri Lanka, 2003.
● Fundação Oriente Award: to conduct fieldwork on Indo-Portuguese, music and dance of the Creole communities in Sri Lanka, 2003.

Former Visiting Positions

● Visiting Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.
● Visiting Professor, College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan.
● Collaborative Lecturer, University of Hawaii, USA.
● Visiting Lecturer, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science: Unfree Labour from a Historical Perspective.
● Visiting Fellow, International Institute of Social History (IISG), Amsterdam